Lose yourself
Excellent Reader’s Feature at the weekend from Andrew Middlemas. For me personally immersion
is possibly the most important aspect of some video games, the ability lose yourself in world and
its stories is precisely what I want certain entertainment products, whether they be games or
otherwise.

Of course this is not necessarily true for all games. For some challenge, competition, or creativity
are of much more importance in providing an enjoyable experience. But for those that it is it should
always be considered when making design choices. I must admit I do hate seeing games immersive
quality being compromised by developers so they can add ‘cool new features’ to the game.

To expand on my praise of it in the Hot Topic, one of the reasons why I love Gone Home so much
was simply its ability to draw me in and make me feel as if I were there. The combination of the
excellent storytelling, the detailed sound effects and the relative mundanity of the gameplay
all helped to make it one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played.

By the end I almost felt as if I were actually Kaitlin Greenbriar and after reading the last couple of notes I just wanted to give ‘my sister’ a hug and tell her how happy I was for her. I can honestly say I have never
experienced anything in any other game, or any other form of entertainment for that matter, that can match that.Leaf

Evil never dies
I wrote in recently about getting a Wii U over Christmas, and how I was very happy with my purchase. I mentioned that I’d also start to replay some Wii games on it too.

Despite nearly completing Rayman Legends, and being a couple of hours into Super Mario 3D World, the game that’s been putting those two on hold is the magnificent Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition.

I first played and completed Resident Evil 4 back in 2007 and loved it. I also completed the side missions with Ada Wong. I stupidly traded it in after that so I had to buy it again recently.

I’ve started the game this weekend and I’ve nearly put six hours in already. The worry about playing through a game again and being disappointed (rose-tinted glasses and all that) is definitely not the case with this game .The graphics are a bit fuzzy but they don’t detract from how great a game Resident Evil 4 is. It’s not a third person run and gun game and doesn’t try to be.

There’s a lot of action but it’s really well paced, so that sometimes you are creeping about being sneaky, and then other times it’s full-on set pieces like the cabin siege and numerous boss fights. I seem to have got a bit better this time as I even managed to clobber the chainsaw sisters without dying once.

Last time round I avoided them due to getting repeatedly battered and went for the El Gigante instead. I’m not looking forward to the Regenerators though as they properly freaked me out last time with their creepy shuffling/breathing noises in the dark. (what a big baby!)

It’s an all-time classic that deserves to be up there with the best games ever made. I’m really glad I’ve got another chance to play it.skipsville 1977 (gamertag)/dadisawesome77 (NN ID)

Unbroken run
Not sure if this would qualify for a Hot Topic or an Inbox topic, you’ll need a copy of the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die to take part. I was flicking through this at the weekend, killing time, and decided to see the most games in a row in the book I had played.

I thought it would be recent games but in fact it was a much older vintage year. I managed seven games in a row from 1991: Super Tennis, Loom, Monkey Island 2, Super Mario World, Another World, Super Castlevania IV, and Civilization. What a cracking set of titles! Can we get more than seven in a row?half_empty80 (PSN ID)

GC: Considering we’ve never heard of the book we think that’s probably too obscure for a Hot Topic, but it’s an interesting idea.

Final Fantasy returns
I have to say; I’m really digging the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XII Idemo. But then I would admittedly; as I was rather enraptured by Final Fantasy XIII/XIII-2, serious flaws and all! The revamped combat system is quite impressive, I love the amalgamation of turn-based and real-time combat mechanics; which remind me of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (another often vilified Final Fantasy I loved). What I’ve experienced of the game’s novel combat already bodes extremely well for the full release and may even match Final Fantasy XIII’s consummate combat system!

The third entry in the XIII series also seems like a much more light-hearted and goofier game than its immediate predecessors courtesy of Lightning’s weird and wonderful costumes, and I like that! I particularly love how the outlandish – and quite arousing at times – attire endow her with magical properties, acting like a substitute for the Paradigms in the other games. Mainline Final Fantasy games always excel in the visual/audio departments and this game is no exception; the music, especially during the boss battle, is fabulous! The music throughout the arduous fight crescendos into one of the most majestic, magnificent musical compositions my ears have ever had the pleasure of listening to!

It’s a shame the demo didn’t feature any of the Zelda: Majora’s Mask influenced impending doom structuring, I would’ve liked to gauge just how well Square Enix had implemented such a maverick game design. Hope they succeed though, to the point where it finally silences all the hate the Final Fantasy XIII games get and restores the entire franchise’s reputation! Perhaps the third times a charm with Lightning’s Return, let’s hope for a turning of the tides!Galvanized Gamer

Trigger issue
Thought I’d write in with a problem I’ve discovered with the DualShock 4, thought maybe you could ask Sony for a comment on it or perhaps other readers might know more or have suffered from a similar problem?

The problem is this: the R2 trigger breaking, seemingly a problem with the hinge. A few days ago I was playing Battlefield 4 with the DualShock that I got with the system at launch, I was in the middle of a game and noticed that when I squeezed the trigger to shoot my gun would carry on shooting even when I let go of the trigger. At first I thought it was related to latency with the game. But then I noticed that the trigger was sticking and on closer inspection I could see that the trigger was hanging at a slightly lower angle on the left hand corner, it appeared as if the hinge (or the spring in the hinge) had broken.

I put this down to bad luck and thought maybe I’d knocked it without realising. Luckily I was able to take it back to the retailer (Asda) and get a replacement, I also bought an extra spare controller just in case it happens again.

I’ve done a basic Google search and it seems there is a worryingly large amount of people that have suffered from the same issue. I also found several videos confirming the problem to be the exact same fault I had. Thought it was worth bringing up what with the issue with the rubber on the sticks being poor quality. I’ve no idea exactly how widespread it is but the amount of stories about it on the Internet is a bit alarming. I figured you guys would probably be better placed to gauge how widespread it is and I think it’s worth mentioning as other readers might have had the same issue

It also seems as though Sony are replacing them so maybe they are aware there is a design fault?Jones_81 (PSN ID)

GC: It’s the first time we’ve heard of the problem but let’s see if any other readers respond with a similar story.

Stupid light
It was interesting to see the GC readers list their favourite games of 2013 over the weekend. My personal favourite game of all time, The Last Of Us, was narrowly beaten into second place by GTA V, but considering that The Last Of Us is a PlayStation 3 exclusive and GTA V is multiformat I guess that gives The Last Of Us a statistical victory due to far less voters having played it. It’s been a long wait, but I’m really looking forward to playing the soon-to-be-released new story download for The Last Of Us also.

Finally, on a completely different note, I really like my PlayStaton 4. It’s obvious already from the few next gen titles I’ve played that it’s a beast of a machine and I’ve already had hundreds of hours of gaming pleasure out of it playing Battlefield 4, Killzone, and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but who was the idiot that designed the console’s appearance and controller?

The controller has such a ridiculous battery life due to having that stupid huge light on the front I keep it wired to the USB all the time, and what about the ridiculous light in a trench across the console’s back? Why? The console itself is a dust magnet because it understandably gets quite warm while running, and you can’t cover the unit or put it in a cupboard to keep the dust off, because it would probably fry its internals. Then when you finally attempt to dust it the dust gets funnelled into the slot on top and the groove in the front where the disc slot and USBs are located.

As an ex-engineer I could’ve designed a better console and controller in my sleep. Sony, if you’re reading this, next time you’re designing a new console, please get in touch, and I’ll show you how to make it better.Crazy-Crusha (PSN ID)

GC: Allegedly the short battery life isn’t due to the light, but we agree it’s stupid and will be remonstrating with Sony about it the next chance we get.

While you were waiting
RE: Campher. I can’t say I agree with you on episodic gaming being a flop, at least not in Telltale’s case. I understand the frustration in waiting for the next part, when it has no clear release date or is delayed, but that can be a good thing.

I always have things fighting for my time, work and family/social commitments in addition to what new games I want to play, films/TV to watch, books to read or music to listen to. It can be really hard to set time aside for a long single-player experience with any consistency. With Telltale though I can play-through an episode of The Walking Dead Season 1 in 2-6 hours have a very enjoyable experience and move on to other things while the next part(s) come out.

Even if I did want the whole game at once, I only have to ignore it till last episode is released and then pick it up usually at a discounted price to celebrate the release of the last episode.ImpofthePerverse (Steam ID)

GC: It’s been three months since the The Wolf Among Us last came out… We’ve already had two Assassin’s Creed games and a downloadable expansion in that time.

The usual excuse
Well, at least I now know why PES 14 is still unfinished four months after release… It was a beta for PES 15. PES 14 is transition they say. Funny, that was what they said about PES 13. Apparently they have ‘learnt from their mistakes’. Not sure you have Mr Hirano as this is the third year running that same comment has been uttered. You only need to say it once if you truly learnt!

I hate to say it but I’m done with PES and the team’s lack of understanding fans. They release an unfinished game but do not understand why we are angry when we paid £35 on release for 50% of a game which is now £20 with it 75% complete.

My biggest complaint is that four months on and they still have not added a wide camera to online 4v4, 11v11 games. If you can’t add a wide camera to a football game you have to worry what devs and testers they have working for them.

The biggest joke came with patch 1.06 and Data Pack 3. This was sent to Sony and Microsoft in December… It’s still not available. Why you say? A reply to a random person from the official PES twitter account let slip their dev team sent a ‘broken’ Data Pack to Sony and Microsoft and it got rejected. This happened around Xmas time and was never officially released to fans as a reason for the delay. It’s now February 14 and still no word, yet they release details about PES 15 and shut down PES 12 servers meaning no means to be able play Legends online.

I’ve been playing konami’s football series since ISS as FIFA never felt ‘right’, and before anyone says anything, I have played FIFA at friends and own a PS Vita version so know how it plays. I don’t mind the new feel but it feels unfinished, which the team admits to by stating the need for tweaks.

Fact is I no longer trust them after the whole mess of a game and communication this year and I will no longer buy another PES game.deanchereden (PSN ID)
PS: Luckily March brings Dark Souls II, which will be played to death (pun intended).

This week’s Hot Topic
The discussion point for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader RyokoSparda, who wants to know what your least favourite game of 2013 was.

Don’t worry about trying to name the absolute worst game of the year (it’d just be some zero budget disaster no one has heard of), just the game or games that you personally enjoyed the least. You don’t even have to consider them bad games overall, just disappointing or annoying ones.

Do you think there were more or less bad games last year than usual? And what annoys you the most in a game, in terms of gameplay elements such as bad graphics, controls, camera, or poorly judged difficulty? How forgiving are you of bugs and launch problems, and can they ruin a game you otherwise enjoy?